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Houston Press: Volley Back to Bar Owners

In our continuing saga of Musicians vs Club Owners, there's yet another entry from the Houston Press. How the Houston Press would have come across the posting, especially given its apparently short life on the Tampa Craigslist site is all the more amazing. Clearly when that club owner posted his missive, it struck a chord.

The response from the Houston Press is interesting as it is arguing from the position of the musician again. So we don't necessarily have parity. If a club owner would like to step forward and offer another response to make it a proper debate, we'd be more than happy to post it and wrap up the back-and-forth. I've reached out to Tim from the C.O.A.R. Radio show to help me make a request from his friends at the Rockbar Theatre in San Jose for additional input.

The "Houston Press blog post has eight points on it. The first "Brainfart" article we linked to has eleven points on it Given that the Tampa "Craigslist" club owners post only has three points on it suggests two things:

Whether it's with respect to owning the venues, owning the door (creating the opportunity to pay for admission), owning the seats, and having the bar and potentially a kitchen (for drinks and possibly food), the economic advantage appears to reside with the club owners. That said, it's also pretty clear that these assets create the greater amount of risk that the club owner has to bear. Many bands have (and probably forget) to take this into account when negotiating with clubs and bars for shows.

When and if we hear from the Rockbar for so we can balance out the give and take (by posting another list from the club owner perspective), we'll post it. That said, we have some of our own thoughts on the nature of the band/club relationship and some thoughts on how to smooth out the transactions. A lot of bands deal with crap they shouldn't have to. A lot of club owners also have to deal with crap they shouldn't have to.